Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-04-08
STAGE THUNDER.
some or the Devices Employed for
Producing it by Prominent Actors.

il'hl li' ipol VI illc llcdltl through
an inclined trough which ended in u
funnel. In this funnel projected nu-
merous bristle wooden "proliles, or
pegs. When the heavy iron ball came
laundering down this funnel, crashing
and breaking the wood, it sounded as
if the house was tumblng Thunder
made Forrest warm up TO his work,
especially as King Lear, play in
which the boys kept the balls rolling
very lively during the tn rd act. Often
bach made Calchas shake thin sheet
OF iron, in imitation of Jupiter Olympus,
and that way OF making thunder is
used now in south Europe. The Saxon
idea Of thunder, which my thology tells
Us was made by Thor throwing his
hammer from Walhala and finally
striking something, brought different
sounds 10 the ear than that shaken out
from sheet Of tin or iron. And the
final thud and crash is made now in
Germany by the rafting of tin first and
the break ne of a thin pine board by
cobblestone hurled by the scene-shifter,
The late Mr. +. L. Davenport once
said that the finest thunder he had
heard was one of these gentlemen tum-
bling down very rickety stair. and
breaking each step as he bounced down
ward. Booth does not care much how
his thunder is manufactured, but be
likes it best when it grumbles in the far
distance on bass drum, ending with
one or two mighty peal, Of sharp,
cracking noises at prec Sc points in his
bus ness. keenc. on the contrary likes
t sharp loud, and plenty of IT,
Nine. Janauschell likes her thunder
done IN the lies by bail rolling from
" ne TO wing gently, and at times the
/ ?rompler raitles long piece of sheet
IRON, with a handle. two or three times
light at the audience. This. the ma
lame THINKS, gives the effect OF u storm.
wh ch comes on, and finally breaks
over her The prompter, with prompt
book in one hand. shaking the thunder
sheet N the other. j. usually the only
funny thing in madame's performance
The trouble with storm lingering or
mumbling thunder is that it sounds
more like an express wagon driving
over very bad pavement. Mr.. W. III.
Gillette uses gentle thunder TO imi-
tate coming carriage, and has stone
whereon one of the boys beats a gallop
with steel horseshoe. Charles Fech-
ter finally adopted the Foster rumbling
aud final crash. When he fell through
A stage trap, some years before he
died, and hurt himself severely, it Is
said he thought the noise he made was
an excellent article of thunder but
doubted if he could get substitute.
He was very much Liked by the stage
hands wherever he went. and putting
up keg OF beer for them was not y
very unusual occurrence.
When Low Morr son brought out his
Faust at the Chicago Columbia thea
Ter, he used all the known ways of raising
thunder in the Walpurgis yacht scene.
More than hundred supers were hired
20 rattle tin sheets from al conceived
Die places. harlottc Cushman cared
aoth ~ for the Jualit, Of her thunder,
but she wanted the quaut.ty as bo.ster-
Gus a. she could get it. and wished the
ihundcrmakers to pause at each thun-
der-clap II Meg Merrl es' just long
enough Tor her to say her lines. She
didn't care for much lightning.
At the Lyceum theater thunder is
mace by rolling a stone bowlGer down
trough. in the bottom of which are
nailed strips OF wood In the storm
gathered n Met by Chance this
thunder was very effective, accompan-
led a. it WAS by lighting. Several
glass tubes through which ran a wire
were stretched across the stage in zig
Gags and the electric flash sent through
which could be seen through the trans
parent glass. and the effect was made
more striking yet by throwing a light,
obscured by dark, threatening clouds
painted on the glass; this was rejected
on the drop. and gave the background
the appearance of a moving mass Of
rain-laden clouds. In The Brook"
the Salisbury Troubadours heighten
the effect by perforated watcr-pipe in
the flies. through which the water
'prnkled on the stage, but the thun-
der and tightening are tame. as they
wish to appear surprised by passing
summer shower James A. Herne was,
however the first to introduce rain on
the stage, n Hearts of Oak
A very good effect of lightning is the
forked streak OF fire which blinds Mr..
Wilson Barrett in his clever imperson-
alton of Claudian. but the device is
not new. Ii is done in the same man.
ner 10y Stage Manager Waldron. who
produces a like effect in "Clo." Magne-
Stun IS sometimes used for flash light
ming, and powdered resin blown